The true costs of drugs; how the drug industry overcharges

Th above is a quote from the link provided. The author seems to be unfamilar with regulation of the pharmacetutical industry, by the FDA, which oversees all pharmaceutical products.


Use of the term "drug industry": It's the individual pharmacies, that determine the price, to be charged. This depends on the overhead associated with the specific pharmacy and the volume of drugs that the specific pharmacy handles.

What is noticable to me, is the rapid increase in prices of the Brand drugs, while the generics seem to be remaining constant.

Drug ingredients by themselves are of little value to either the patient or the pharmacist. Formulation of the active ingredients, prior to Rxing to the patient, is what matters. It's the industrial formulation that adds cost to the final product.

Also...remember, that the pharmacy, ie. Walgreens must carry liability insurance and the pharmacist must also carry a miniumum of $2 million in insurance, to safeguard against a malpractice suit.
Thus the cost to the pharmacy, ie Walgreens, inlcudes the salary to the pharmacist, the cost of the drug, the insurance against liability, and a little extra for the profit of the company to compensate the stock holders in the company.